Element Types

Elements

Elements are essentially the building blocks of any Castaway project.

Within Castaway, we provide an extensive range of Elements for you to add and structure to create your Chart of Accounts, Map data from external sources, and create comprehensive reports. 

Working with Elements, especially setting them up correctly at the start, is an important process in building your project.

Profit & Loss Elements

S   Sales	Model income/revenue, accrued/prepaid income, associated cash flow, invoicing method and expected bad debts
C   Costs	Model expenses, cash flow and invoicing method. Expenses such as Wages and Costs of Goods Sold for Inventory should be set up in the corresponding elements
W  Wages	Record wages and salaries, PAYG (PAYE), superannuation/pension and payroll tax  in a single element
I    Inventory (COGS)	Model costs of goods or services sold, inventory purchases/balances, work in progress, and inventory write-offs/revaluations
P   Provisions	Use to provide non-cash expenses on the Profit and Loss and are accrued to a provision account on the Balance Sheet. You're able to change the Provision Type to either Doubtful Debt, Inventory Writedown, Staff or Other (general) provisions, and their associated write-offs
I Tax	An Inbuilt element where Income Tax settings & payment options are set. You can also set your Cashflow Methods.
D Dividend	An Inbuilt element where dividend settings & payment options are set

Balance Sheet Elements

B   Bank Account	Available in the Bank Accounts section. This section also contains the default bank account. It is suggested that you rename the Main Bank Account to your main trading account, instead of creating a separate element. Set up interest rates for both positive and negative (overdraft) bank balances
D   Debtors	Can be used to record separate categories of debtors for tracking, particularly when they have different receivable terms or are significant for other reasons. Once added, it can be selected in all sales element settings under "Debtor Reporting."
FA Fixed Asset	Record asset purchases, depreciation/amortisation, asset sales and revaluations
I   Investment	Record investment details including investments made, associated investment income & treatment (i.e. reinvested or received to a specified bank account) and sales of investments
L   Loans Payable	Record money borrowed from external parties and their associated terms
O  Other A/L	Model Balance Sheet accounts that are not already maintained via Inbuilt elements or other Element Types. Record revenue, expenses, cash receipts and cash payments, with the balance appearing on the Balance Sheet. The Account Type controls the reporting position on the Funds Flow Statement
W Working Capital Finance (or Trade Finance)	Record invoice finance arrangements, including facility limits, available facility calculation methods, drawdown assumptions, admin charges, and interest rates applying to the facility
C  Capital	Use to record capital and reserve balances/changes on the Balance Sheet, or to adjust inbuilt retained earnings

Driver Elements

Drivers introduce non-financial data into Castaway for advanced modeling or reporting additional information. Learn more about Driver Elements HERE.

D Driver

Available in the Drivers section. Use to record extra data that can be displayed on reports (via report formulas) and charts or via % of Drivers and Add Formula data entry methods to generate forecast data. More information HERE.

Inbuilt Elements

Since Castaway is designed on the 3-way modeling principle, certain accounts, are automatically created and updated.

Many of the Element types you can select will auto-create additional accounts and it’s important to understand how this works, because it will impact how you map your Chart of Accounts.

For example, if you want to set up a Depreciation expense code, first set up the Fixed Asset in the Balance Sheet.  This auto-creates a Depreciation and Accumulated Depreciation account for that asset.  You can then map to those auto accounts if using Excel another external source.

In general terms Inbuilt Element Accounts relate to:

Accruals & Prepayments	Arise via the Invoicing Method element property setting in Sales and Cost elements. Wages elements also give rise to accruals and prepayments depending upon the Wage Adjustment Method and PAYG/Superannuation/Payroll Tax Cash flow Method
Asset Revaluations	Dealt with via the element property setting Allow Revaluations within Fixed Asset elements. An asset revaluation reserve in the Equity section of the Balance Sheet will be created automatically as required
Bad Debt & Obsolete Stock Write-Offs	Element property settings (Expected Bad Debts and Expected Inventory Obsolescence within Sales & Inventory Elements
Debtor Finance	An inbuilt element within the Finance section of Forecast Explorer.
Depreciation & Amortization	Controlled within Fixed & Intangible Assets elements via the Depreciation Method element property.
Dividends	Inbuilt element already created in the forecast explorer
GST	GST Provisions and Payables are automatically created and maintained via settings in taxes in Forecast properties, and individual Element Settings into GST payments element settings.
Income Tax	This inbuilt element is already created in the forecast explorer after the Other Expense Section It also has its own in-built Provision and Payables lines in the Current Liabilities section of the Balance Sheet
Dividends	This inbuilt element is already created in the forecast explorer after the Non Operating Expense Section
Interest Income & Expense	Arise through interest settings and balances in bank accounts, Loans and Investment elements
Inventory	Closing inventory balances on the Balance Sheet will result from differences between COGs and purchases set within inventory elements
Main Bank Account	Inbuilt element in the Bank Accounts section. If additional bank accounts are not created all cash flow resultant from elements will transact through the inbuilt bank account
Profit/Loss on Sale of Assets	This is dealt with via the element property setting AllowAsset Sales within Fixed Asset Elements. The gain or loss will be calculated based on sales data entered against the data entry lines activated by this element property.
Retained Earnings	Is an inbuilt element that is automatically updated each month by reported Net Profit amounts on the P&L report. Changes can be made via capital element transfers if required
Payroll Liabilities	Dealt with the Wage element, particularly by using the PAYG (Tax withheld)/Superannuation (Pension)/Payroll Tax (Employer Tax) Calculations feature.
Trade Debtors & Creditors	Result automatically from deferring receipts and payments in Sales, Costs and Inventory Elements Payables and Receivables are also automatically created through deferring cash flow in other elements such as Fixed Assets or GST
BalSht	Located at the bottom of your Chart of Accounts under System, the Balance Sheet element is designed for you to forecast when your Actual balances are due for receipt/payment.